Free Meal Guidelines
Why We Don’t Want To Use “Cheat Meals”
Let’s say we have you in a deficit for fat loss to occur. That deficit being 200 calories a day. Multiply that by 7 days a week, we now have a 1400 calorie deficit for the week.
If an individual goes out for a “Cheat Meal”, mentally that typically means all rules are off. They nothing short of binge for that one meal. More than likely consuming an average of 2000+ calories.
“It’s just one meal, it can’t hurt.” … well, as a matter of fact, it can. That ONE cheat meal of 2000+ Calories has now taken you OUT of your deficit and pushed you over into a SURPLUS for your entire week.
Therefore, completely offsetting the progress an individual can make in that whole week. The vicious cycle will keep going full circle.
When possible, track your free meals so I can see what it takes your total weekly intake to. When you can’t track it, just include what you had in your check-in email to me. Do NOT be ashamed of what you ate. If you only knew what I put down in my free meals, you’d understand why. I’ll never judge you, just guide you.
Things to Keep In Mind When Utilizing Free Meals:
Nutrient timing should be considered but it should NOT be the deciding factor on when to take a free meal. There's no getting around that placing your free meals pre or post workout will aid in nutrient optimization, however if a free meal is more convenient outside of this window, don’t worry and enjoy! If you have the option, make them peri-workout.
Digestion should be kept in mind. If you don't digest fried foods well, don't go out and eat a bunch of fried food. We want to be able to eat our meals after this, be able to train, and not be a bloated mess. If you FIND yourself bloating during these meals regardless, reach out to me as there are some things we can do to aid this.
Protein should be kept IN the meal. Try to start with protein if you can. As these meals will usually be higher in kcal than the meal they are replacing, let's at least take advantage of that and provide some amino acids to be shuttled for tissue repair with the increased insulin output.
A combination of Sushi and Froyo, a good American Bacon Cheeseburger with fries, OR a delicious hearty breakfast have been proven to be perfect options.
Enjoy the company. Take the time to be something other than fitness; be a friend, wife, husband, etc. Connect with others rather than being food focused.
How To Figure Macros For A Free Meal Day:
I prefer for you to eat 4-6 meals per day at your discretion, keeping that number constant. So, say you're doing 4 meals a day. You will then eat 3/4ths of what you would for macros outside your free meal. If you did 5, you'd eat 4/5th. So how we do this is divide each macro by the numbers of meals you would have. Let's use the 4 meal days as an example. You'd divide your macros by 4, and then multiply each one by 3 (the meals you ARE having) and then hit those numbers outside your free meal.
For example, if your macros are 200/250/80 on training days.
Protein: 200 divided by 4=50*3=150. Protein would be 150g.
Carbs: 250 divided by 4=62.5*3=187.5. Carbs would be 187.5g.
Fat: You'd take 80 divided by 4=20*3=60. So, fat would be 60g.
So macros for your THREE meals would total 150/187.5/60, and then you'd have your free meals on top.
If you planned on doing 5 total meals that day, you just divide your original macros by 5, and multiply by 4. If you generally eat the same exact meals every day, it gets even easier. Just drop one of the meals to replace with the free meal.
Refeeds:
You’ve most likely heard this term around social media or fitness articles. A refeed would be when we use a higher calorie day to refuel your body. We only use these in a deficit, as there is no need in a surplus.
From the mental side of things, this is utilized to keep us sane. Refeeds give us more wiggle room with foods we “crave”, relieving some stress if we’ve developed any form of obsession with tracking. We don’t ever want this obsession to form, as it can create a “want” to escape the “diet”. However, the whole point of flexible dieting is to keep that sanity in the first place and not see it as a “diet” at all. It’s just our lifestyle. If you feel urges to binge, just reach out and we can discuss it. As a former binge-eater, I will thoroughly be able to help you.
So, with the mental side of things addressed, how can we use food to aid our physical performance, especially during a caloric deficit? A refeed is a stint of low fat, high carb, moderate protein intake that can aid in increasing glycogen stores, increasing intracellular water, up-regulating NEAT and thyroid hormones, regulating ghrelin/leptin, giving us a spike in dopamine, and being anti-catabolic in an acute sense. The level to which they will perform these tasks will depend on the magnitude of the refeed, and the length. Therefore, it aids in metabolic optimization to keep your body responsive to the changes we make.
There are some things I prefer one do when executing a refeed:
Keep fiber low. Fiber will not aid in increasing glycogen stores and when consuming over our normal food volume, actually slow digestion quite a bit.
Avoid excessive fructose. Again, some is ok...one piece of fruit, but don't go pounding fruit juice. Fructose will not aid in replenishing glycogen stores by itself but HAS been shown to increase them in conjunction with glucose, so you don't need to 100% avoid it.
Get your water in! The more water you get in, the better carbs are shuttled, and the less likely you are to bloat excessively.
Unless otherwise noted by your coach, use this as a time to enjoy some foods outside your normal diet. It can be whatever fits your taste buds and macros. Seriously, have at it! Rice krispy treats, low fat pancakes, a skinny cow or two (however please avoid excess dairy), low fat pop tarts, etc.
As can be seen, a refeed can not only aid in preventing metabolic slowdown during a diet and increase our training performance acutely but can give one a mental break as well. That said, we typically still use free meals during an improvement season to allow the dieter to also socialize.
Lastly, when needed, diet breaks of 7-10 days may be used to aid in re-regulation to allow us to get back to progressing properly.
